


rigetto

by halfwheeze



Series: Winteriron Bingo 2019 (Round 1) [10]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Bucky goes by James, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Insecure Bucky, Insecure Tony, Insecurity, M/M, Prosthetic Limb Rejection, Tony Stark Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 22:23:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18397553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfwheeze/pseuds/halfwheeze
Summary: Tony is replacing the arm, but these things... sometimes they work out. And sometimes they don't.





	rigetto

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for vague description of a very quick emergency surgery that involved very little to no blood, and at the very least, none was mentioned. 
> 
> This is for Winteriron Bingo square B4: Rejection.

Things don't always work on the first try, no matter how badly that Tony wants them to. 

He's cradling the head of a sobbing Winter Soldier when he's reminded of just how true that is, stroking his fingers through dark hair and talking himself through not having a panic attack. There's metalwork sitting on the ground beside them like it's nothing, like Tony didn't spend months and months trying to get it right only for things to go so badly that it lead them to this. He's whispering little things, Italian tidbits that he has vague memories of his mother whispering to him when he was just a little thing, but they're memories that are now on loan to James Barnes, who deserves all the comforting things that he can get right now. Tony stops himself from tearing up because James doesn't need that right now, no matter how close Tony is to crying. 

"Va tutto bene, piccola stella, starai bene, va tutto bene," Tony is whispering, nosing against James's hairline to calm him. The other man is clinging to him so hard that it almost hurts, as off balance as it is, but Tony can't help but let him. His legs are under the barrel chest of the Winter Soldier, completely pinning him to the floor of the lab, but he doesn't even find himself minding. Whatever James needs, he's willing to give. 

He couldn't even manage to give the man this one thing, so it's the least that Tony deserves to give, even if James doesn't think he deserves any of it at all. Tony would rather cut off his own hand than let James choose his own punishments, his own gifts, because James would choose way too many of one and none of the other, and that can't be allowed. 

That joke isn't in good taste, though, seeing as the machinery giving them companionship against the cement tile is a metal arm intended for the man himself. 

It rejected. James had had functional use of both arms for five hours when the attachment point started to turn a horrific mix of green and purple, green from the infection and purple from the bruising pull of the muscles, trying so hard to make itself take to the arm anyway. Tony had taken James down to the shop to have it removed immediately, Doctor Helen Cho keeping the medical procedure together as Tony was quick and yet careful as he took out the false rotator cuff that was the only reason why James had full range of motion again. He was pressing reassurances into James's hair and whispering to him as the sedative faded out; they could only give him so much, and Tony is so, so sorry for how fast it goes. Cho had closed is back up quickly, leaving with some muttering of calculations that Tony would surely pester her for later, but for now... he has a friend in need. 

There's just the meat of James's shoulder there now, the half of a bicep that Tony had left when he ripped the arm off removed for James's safety. They had tried to make sure that what had just happened wouldn't happen with the old arm but... Tony's work wasn't good enough either. He can't think about that. Now is not the time for his self pity, for his self hatred. Now is the time to look after his friend, make sure that James is okay. 

"James, tesoro, sit up for me. You can do it, Snowflake. Let me see your face. I just wanna see you, Frostbite," Tony says as he coaxes James into sitting up, switching over to English naturally. He and James usually switch between English, Italian and Russian when it's just the two of them, as the last makes Steve twitch whenever it's used. 

"I'm sorry," James says as he finally looks Tony in the face, which is the exact opposite of what Tony expects to happen. He forgets how little James likes expressing himself, how much he hates to put himself upon people when it comes to other people having to deal with his emotions. He reaches forward before he can stop himself, one hand cupping James's jaw as the other wipes tears from the other side of the man's face, careful and delicate. 

"I'm the one who's sorry, James. You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for," Tony promises, pulling James into a real hug that the man does not pull back from in the slightest, sinking into Tony like next to him is the only place he wants to be. Tony doesn't give a single fuck as he feels tears soaking into his t-shirt, cares even less about the ache in his back from sitting on the floor, because James needs this. He's so often averse to physical contact that it's odd to feel the man's touch for this long; sure, James will occasionally grab his hand to show him something or brush his hand along Tony's shoulders on his way out of the lab, but nothing like this. 

"I'm sorry. I know how much time you spent on that thing, and... I can't even keep it on for six hours," James laughs out, nearly delirious with how much he's cried in the past hour or so, and Tony's heart breaks a little. It should figure that James even finds a way to blame himself for the fact that the arm isn't good enough for him. Tony strokes his hair again. 

"It's not your fault, starshine. I'm the one who messed something up. We'll figure it out, I promise. Me and Rhodey and Helen just need to go back to the drawing board a little," Tony assures, not stopping himself as he presses a kiss to James's hair. He’s surprised that James even noticed it, but he knows that the soldier does in the way he stills against Tony, even stopping his breathing for just a moment before he restarts himself. Tony’s heart is beating out of his chest as James lifts himself off of Tony, moving upward slowly as he gives Tony a chance to move away, but the inventor couldn’t move if he tried. 

“You’ll figure it out, Tony. Just… tell me no,” James whispers nearly against Tony’s mouth, desperate and conflicted. Tony shakes his head, making their noses rub together in a way that reminds Tony of a time when he was so much younger, when affection was affection and he didn’t carry the weight of the world on his own two shoulders. James reminds him of a younger time often, with his sunshine smiles and the way that he looks so full of wonder in the face of that which is new, and Tony doesn’t want to say no. He doesn’t want to say tell James no at all. 

“Please,” he says instead, small and short and weak, and James kisses him, finally, finally, finally. It’s slow, James using his one arm for balance rather than angling, and Tony takes it over before he can stop himself, pouring his passions into it in all of the ways that he knows how. When he bites James’s lip, the soldier whimpers, and it’s one of the prettiest sounds that Tony has ever heard. James kisses him again, and again, and again, a few short little kisses that mean nothing and the world, and then he’s pulling back. 

“You’ll figure it out, Tony,” James repeats, and he believes every word. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Prompt me on tumblr @halfwheeze or in the comments!


End file.
